Saturday, March 8, 2008

"I'd heard rumors of art*o*mat vending machines—old cigarette machines that have been revamped to dispense pieces of art, instead. Today I set off to find one. After much drama and adventure, I made it to the very place, and I bought not one, not two, but three pieces of art. From a vending machine. Because that is too darn cool to pass up.

"'a real smart ass' was the second thing I bought. I was the tiniest bit disappointed when I first saw the words on it. 'Smart ass' isn't really my language style, and I'd been hoping for something more quirky or inspirational... and less, well, smartass.

"But I've come to embrace it.

"I'm a nice person. To some people, it's almost frustrating how nice I am—and they take great delight in trying to get a rise out of me. I don't mind (which probably irks them more), but I see where they're coming from. I bite back probably ninety-five percent of my cynical, sarcastic, or off-color comments... So when I actually say something smartass, people tend to be shocked and think it's really out-of-character. (It's not.)

"And you know what? Their feigned dismay makes me feel guilty about making one comment of the kind they make regularly. That sucks, and I'm fed up with it.

"I'm keeping this little guy as a reminder that, yeah it's great to be the cheerful, sweet, loving person of the group. But it's just as damn fine to be myself.

About Me

Stray Eggplant is an artistic endeavor, begun in 2004, by artist Laura E.
Gentry. She has sculpted hundreds of eggplants, each with a different random quote, which have been sold throughout the US and in Canada and the UK in Art*o*mat vending machines. This blog is the gallery of eggplant owners. Click the photos to see enlargements. More information about this project is at strayeggplant.com.

ART*O*MAT ON THE RACHEL RAY SHOW

On this clip from the March 12 episode of the Rachel Ray show, she explores an Art*o*mat machine--and even experiences a bit of vending rage! There is a Stray Eggplant sitting on top of the machine and in a close-up shot you can see it is the one that says "those blabber mouths"! Enjoy.